[pct-l] Backpacks, which size is best?

[Brick Robbins]

2016-01-21 11:20 GMT-08:00  <jcil000-hiker at yahoo.com>:
> Whatever you do, don't do as one "expert" bonehead I met did. He boastedof never using a water filter nor carrying one. He admitted he had chronic parasiteproblems (giardia, I think). And there he was. Encouraging others to be chronicallysick like himself. Yeah. Being chronically sick was better than packing a water filter.And he was the "expert" giving lectures for hiking the AT trail back east.

Scott Williams Wrote:
>  I filter and carry a full dose of flagyl just in case.

I personally have not filtered water in the Sierra for many, many
years of hiking, nor when I hiked the Colorado Trail, nor in Europe. I
don't get sick. Some of the water in SoCal and Oregon is not quite so
nice, so I chemically treat there with Mira Agua, but not for Giardia,
but rather for bacteria.

A study on the AT showed no difference in GI illness rates between
people who filtered and those that didn't. Read the report here
http://distancehiking.com/tools/watertreatment/

There is lots of other evidence that google can lead you to that
indicates that the water is probably not the source of GI infections
in the Backcountry, but rather poor hygiene.

I know that people have very strong, almost religious, feelings on
this, and they are welcome to them.  I prefer evidence based
protocols.

Scott:
If you get sick then Tinidazole is a better drug than Flagyl, with
only a single dose, and much fewer side effects
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinidazole